You're not being gaslit, you're getting an account from another person that may be different from what you experienced.
If you look at footage from before COVID-19, I'd say that mask usage in general was much closer to 5% than 50%:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpXcG9Nfvos
> I saw punks. Literal goth punks, with the boots and the tats and the piercings and the black clothes and the mohawks wear masks.
Dressing like that doesn't mean they're anti-social or edgy. It's just fashion.